Today, September 17, is Constitution Day. It recognizes the date that the U.S. Constitution was officially adopted as the law that governed our land.

As kids, many of us learned the Preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As adults, we often forget the content of the seven Articles or even how many amendments there have been since its passage. Hopefully, we are aware of the Bill of Rights (those first 10 Amendments.)

As it is Constitution Day, I can’t help but think of my first job out of college. I was fortunate enough to work as an aide to U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd (WV) both while at the University of Virginia and after graduation. Those who know the Senate know that Senator Byrd was one of the Constitution’s staunchest defenders. In his decades on the Hill, he never was without a pocket edition of the U.S. Constitution. He was known to pull it out during committee hearings, referencing our Founding Fathers’ words when witnesses would forget the basis on which this nation was founded.

I still have the pocket version of the Constitution Senator Byrd gave me when I worked for him as a foolish 20-year-old communications intern. Can’t think of today without thinking of the senior senator from the great state of West Virginia, who gave me my first job in communications.

(And thanks to Anne Barth, another former Byrd staffer and state director extraordinaire, for the great photo reminder this AM.)